U2 and Eno Again

Producer says they're off to the studio

10 April 2009 - Brian Eno’s revealed that he’s heading back into the studio with U2 next week.

The legendary producer didn’t give any more details at all – but made the comment at the very end of an event last night in which he discussed philosophy and politics with US trumpeter and composer Jon Hassell.The talk at London's South Bank Centre was the opening to this year’s Ether Festival, and on Sunday and Monday night Eno will perform alongside David Byrne as part of the same event.

The legendary producer and former Roxy Music member is credited with the invention of ambient music, and during his career has worked with the likes of Talking Heads, David Bowie, U2 and Coldplay as well as producing numerous world music records.

Hassell collaborated with Eno on the 1980 album ‘Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics,’ and early in his musical career worked with the revered composer and sound pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen.

In his career Eno has recorded more than forty solo and collaborative studio albums, beginning in 1973 with Here Come The Warm Jets, and most recently last year’s Whatever Happens Will Happen Today with David Byrne.

6 Music will be at Byrne and Eno’s gig on Sunday night – so tune in to our music news bulletins and check the website on Monday for reviews and reaction from fans.

Rodrigo Davies

The Specials return 

The ska legends play at the BBC for the first time in 25 years and drop Glasto hint

08 April 2009 - The Specials made their live return at the BBC last night (April 7) with an appearance on Later...With Jools Holland.The legendary ska band minus Jerry Dammers, bizarrely returned to the scene of their split after a Top Of The Pops appearance at the Television Centre over 25 years ago.

"The last time we were in this building, we did 'Ghost Town' so it's a strange feeling, it's like going back in time." said founding member Lynval Golding ."I keep thinking, 'Did it really happen? Has 20 something years really gone by? We all need reading glasses now." 

The line-up of Terry Hall, Golding, Neville Staple, Roddy Byers, Horace Panter and John Bradbury are set to embark on their 30th anniversary reunion tour later this month.

They made a surprise guest appearance at Bestival last September. Hall and Golding also joined Lily Allen onstage at Glastonbury in 2007."I keep thinking, 'Did it really happen? Has 20 something years really gone by? We all need reading glasses now."  Lynval Golding

Golding hinted that the reformed Coventry collective may make an appearance at this year's Glastonbury Festival."There is a possibility of us doing it," he said. "Look out for that one."

The Specials kick off their reunion tour on 22 April in Newcastle before they wrap up with a special homecoming show in Coventry’s Ricoh Arena on 15 May.

Despite their time away Golding said he's amazed at how many of their tracks are still relevant today.

He added: "'Too Much Too Young' is about how the number of kids having kids keeps going up and 'Concrete Jungle' is about knife violence. It feels like nothing has changed."

YYYs go electro

The New York trio talk about re-tooling their sound for It's Blitz

08 April 2009 - Yeah Yeah Yeahs have argued that they deliberately decided to go for a more electro feel on their new albumIt's Blitz. 

Singer Karen O said it felt like the "next step along the path" for the New York trio following the release of their last EPIs Is."I guess an electronic and more synthesised sound felt right this time," she told 6 Music.

"We moved away from the raw rock that we recently did and freed up the direction for something new."

"It just sort of came in the course of writing and recording the record," guitarist Nick Zinner continued."It's really what seemed to work the best for us."

Another reason for their new polished direction was largely down to the record's co-producer, TV On The Radio's Dave Sitek, who worked on their previous two albums.

"Dave possesses this radical quality that transforms songs," explains drummer Brian Chase. 

"We took what we did with our main producer Nick (Launey) to Dave and he was like, 'You have to try new ideas and experiment.""It knocked the wind out of our sails a little bit at first."Karen O on Yeah Yeah Yeahs' album leaking 

It's Blitz,which is out this week, was leaked ahead of its official physical release on February 23, forcing the band to push the album digitally soon after.

Karen admitted that she was initially disappointed when she heard the album slipped through the net.

"We were really excited about building this excitement around the new record," she sighed."So it knocked the wind out of our sails a little bit at first.

"But at the same time we were lucky because there was a pretty positive reception with the leak."

During their three years out of the spotlight the band have been keeping busy on various side projects most notably the soundtrack to Spike Jonze's new movie 'Where The Wild Things Are'.

Karen roped in her fellow band members, Arcade Fire, The Raconteurs and Deerhunter for the score, which is based on a childhood book.

"My favourite things are music and film and the marriage between the two of them so I was really excited about putting this together," she enthused.

The trio are set to headline this year's Camden Crawl on 24 April and Zinner said their songs are likely to take on a different form live.

"We've had to re-interpret the songs live so it won't sound the same as the studio album," he added.

"I think Nick has about 30 pedals now,"Karen joked. "They’re like bunnies they multiply."

Penate grows up

The singer-song writer teams up with Adele and Paul Epworth on his dark second album

06 April 2009 - Jack Penate has teamed up with Bloc Party and Kate Nash producer Paul Epworth for his "life changing" new album.

His as-yet-untitled second record also saw the singer/songwriter join forces with his old friend Adele and Norman Cook as he retreated to a box studio in Kensal Rise. 

The singer's first single 'Tonight's Today' marks a significant change of direction for Penate. We caught up with him to get the lowdown on his new record.

Tell me about your influences on this album. It seems like it's going in a really different direction?

It is a lot more dance orientated, introspective and emotional as a whole. The idea was to create dance music for people to cry to. That was the basis me and Paul worked closely together to try and create.

Something which had complete atmosphere and soul and also which you could dance and have fun to.Does a lot of the content stem from your own personal experiences?Yeah completely. The last record was a lot of fantasy really, a lot of teenage fantasy which is wonderful and what you should be doing as a teenager, making up love stories.But this one is about real life. I can kind of pinpoint a song to a time of my life or a situation. I just realised I definitely wanted to create something which was completely true to me. I've tried not to be too overt and be more subtle in my lyrics."Her voice always makes such an impact onanything" Jack Penate on working with AdeleHow do you look back on your debutMatineenow?

“That album was such a wonderful experience and incredibly naive in many ways. I look back and it seems like a different me. I really enjoy playing it but that’s probably as far as it goes.

It doesn’t gel with who I am now but I still completely respect it. It's just I can’t see where Matinee fits in with me now.”

The video seems dreamy and free?

The video is inspired by a film I really love and the director turned me onto. I thought, 'Yeah why I don’t I do a black and white video where I kind of kiss a guy?'. I didn’t really see any point in holding back.

I think I almost hid who I was before but I think you do as a teenager.

I would say misrepresentation is too big a word but I may have sent people on a different tangent to who they thought I was. But now I’m more comfortable with myself.

Paul Epworth has a pretty amazing CV with Bloc Party, Kate Nash and Florence And The Machine. What was the relationship with him like?It was incredibly intense and very special. He is in the same mindframe as me in a kind of do or die sense.I learned a ridiculous amount not just about music but about recording, about producing. We did it all in a tiny room on a complete shoe string and it still sounds amazing.Did you work on the track 'Let's All Die' with Fatboy Slim?I did the sessions with him but because it wasn't done live it maybe didn't quite feel quite like I wanted it to. Unfortunately we didn't use his version in the end. Norman still played a big part in it but Paul helped me re-do the song in the end.What is that song about?Let's All Die is a celebration of death. It's completely joyous. It's basically about me going to New Orleans when I was 18 or 19 and seeing a funeral procession.There was this brass band and people were dressing up and dancing.Adele features on guest vocals on this record too. How was that?She was in Notting Hill and I just phoned her and said, 'Can you do this song?' As always she came in and killed it.Her voice always makes such an impact on anything because it’s the most beautiful thing.'Tonight's Today' is out now.Damian Jones

Rappers inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

05 April 2009 - Run-DMC have officially been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Ohio.

The duo were honoured during a star-studded gala and Eminem gave the rap pioneers their award and telling them how their music changed his life as a boy growing up in Detroit.

Run-DMC broke down the barriers between rock and rap and helped push rap and hip hop into mainstream pop culture with hit albums like 1986's "Raising Hell."

That album featured the lead single "Walk This Way," a cover of the classic Aerosmith song of the same name. It fused rap and rock and appealed to fan’s of both genres.

Eminem explained how the group had inspired him:

"They broke away from the pack by being the pack," he said.

"They were the baddest of the bad and the coolest of the cool. Run-DMC changed my life. There's three of them and if you grew up with hip hop like I did, they were the Beatles.""They were the baddest of the bad and the coolest of the cool. Run-DMC changed my life."Eminem on Run DMC

The two remaining members of the group Joseph "DJ Run" Simmons and Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels explained how their music grew and developed:

"We were young guys with a new music that people thought was a fad, but we knew the culture was a way of life and we just lived it," McDaniels said.

"The music that we made then didn't just impact friends, it impacted a generation. So I guess that's what rock and roll does."

Any chance of a Run reunion ended with Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell's death in 2002, when he was shot to death outside his studio. His murder remains unsolved.

Mizell's mother, Connie, accepted the award on his behalf.

"My baby is still doing it for me," she said.

Antony goes techno

Hegarty teams up with Bjork collaborator to re-work set for Coachella

02 April 2009 - Antony Hegarty surprised a few people with an album from his disco side-project Hercules and Love Affair in 2008.

2009 will see the Antony And The Johnsons mastermind delving into the world of techno.

The Mercury Prize-winner has revealed he's linking up with Matthew Herbert, the acclaimed producer who has worked with the Icelandic queen of beats, Bjork, in the past.

Hegarty and Herbert are working together on mashing up his latest album,The Crying Light, for Coachella festival in the US between 17-19 April.Speaking exclusively to 6 Music, Antony told us what he's got in store: “We’ve been re-imagining some of the songs from my album as techno songs. I’m curious to keep exploring.”As for how the collaboration came about, he said: “I wanted to do some kind of vivisection, beak a song apart and just pull out its innards, hang them up on a line look at them and reconfigure them.“Also, because festivals are so impossible to do with my instrumentation because it’s all so twee, it just fades away in the distance.”"We've been re-imagining some of the songs from my album as techno songs."

Antony Hegarty

The singer said the festival setting isn’t always ideal for his live shows.

“People are throwing beers at each other,” he laughed. “No one cares about these tiny little sounds so for a festival you want something that’s more structural and stalwart, a sound that’s just gonna load itself into their computer.”

Herbert has produced and remixed artists from REM, Yoko Ono and Serge Gainsbourg to John Cale and Roisin Murphy.

Of his friend, who is also a classically trained pianist, Hegarty said: “He’s great. He’s a mad scientist, kind of like Professor Brainstorm. I used to read a lot of those books as a kid.”

It’s a possibility that fans in England might get to see the final results.

“We might do it at a festival in England too,” said Hegarty. “I’m not quite sure yet, someone will tell me in the end.”

Jean Michel Jarre tribute

After Maurice Jarre's death his son discusses the Dr Zhivago composer's legacy

01 April 2009 - Electronic musician and performer Jean Michel Jarre has paid tribute to his late father Maurice Jarre.

Aged 84, Maurice won Oscars for his evocative scores ofLawrence Of Arabia,Doctor ZhivagoandA Passage To India.

Born in Lyon in 1924, the composer died in Los Angeles last weekend (Sunday 29 March) after a long battle with cancer.

"I think his legacy is to have been amongst those who really revolutionised the modern soundtracks world," said Jean Michel.The pioneer of synthesised music told BBC 6 Music: "The specificity of his work and his talent was to create such strong moods and melodies attached to movies forever.

"You can listen to three notes of the soundtrack ofLawrence Of ArabiaorDr Zhivagoand it's a very strong reminder of the whole movie."Recognised particularly for his work on the David Lean epics, Maurice Jarre received an Oscar, six Academy Award nominations, two Bafta Awards, four Golden Globes and a Grammy throughout his career.He last appeared in public in February, when he was awarded a lifetime award at the Berlin Film Festival."I'm quite moved by starting this world tour and carrying and conveying and spreading his name all around the planet."

Jean Michel Jarre

Jean-Michel explained why his father's soundtracks were so different to those made today.

"It's quite unusual in the soundtrack world, apparently these days, where you have more of a tracklisting of songs but not the exploitation of a theme all through the movie, in a rather hypnotic way.

"He was amongst those who really revolutionised the modern soundtracks world," he said.

Jean Michel believes his In-Doors World Arena Tour, which kicks off in May, is an opportunity to keep the memory of his father alive.

Adding: "I must say that I'm quite moved by starting this world tour and carrying and conveying and spreading his name all around the planet, in the next few days and weeks, so it's kind of a continuity."

Brooklyn-based band head into the studio to record follow-up to The Boxer

31 March 2009 - Melancholic indie band The National have said their new material features “higher” and “louder” singing from frontman Matt Berninger.

Their critically-acclaimed last albumThe Boxerwas released in 2007 and guitarist, pianist and bassist Aaron Dessner told 6 Music how far along they are with its follow-up.

“We’ve written a lot of music and Matt [Berninger], who sings, has been sitting with it and writing a lot of lyrics,” he explained. “I think he’s getting close to having a lot of finished songs that we’ll start recording.”

Speaking of the location, the band have built a recording studio in Dessner’s garage.“It’s like we’re in Disney land or something,” he said laughingly. “We feel like Metallica.”

They are due to head into the studio in the next couple of weeks: “I think we’re going to start recording in April and be done with it in the fall and I guess it will come out in early 2010.”

Fans of their last offering should be prepared for a different style of vocals.

"Matt is singing a lot higher and a lot louder."

Aaron Dessner

“We always challenge ourselves to change what we’re doing and experiment with form and the aesthetic of how we’re recording things,” Dessner explained. “But I can’t really say yet exactly how it will be different, except that Matt is singing a lot higher and a lot louder.”He added: “He’s not murmuring so much likeThe Boxer, which I’m kind of glad about, and there’s one new song which seems to have more lyrics than the entire album ofBoxerso that was amusing.”

The band have already road-tested some new tracks at gigs; they recently performed Karamazov and Wake Up Your Saints at a benefit for Tibet House in New York.

Dessner admitted it was a risk: “We never really debut songs live because we’re too nervous and it takes us too long so figure out what they are, but it was a really good sign of where things are going because it went really well.”

They have just announced a string of North American dates in May, with dates in Toronto, Washington DC and Atlanta.

Georgie Rogers

Ornette Coleman to curate Meltdown 2009 at the South Bank Centre

29 March 2009 - It was announced today that the 'free jazz' legend will be the artistic director of the festival, which takes place between the 13th and 21st June.

It’s 50 years since Coleman exploded into people’s consciousness with his ‘free jazz’ revolution. He pioneered the idea of improvising without chord changes, which is widely regarded to have changed the musical landscape at the time.

And half a century later Coleman is still making headlines, his 2006 albumSound Grammar won thePulitzer Prize, in 2007 he received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award and that same year the saxophonist played the Royal Festival Hall to rave reviews.

Coleman revealed his hopes for Meltdown 2009:

"I hope this festival will leave us with a lot of love for all mankind. We will use this time to gather together and create things that we love and believe in."

"I hope this festival will leave us with a lot of love for all mankind."Ornette Coleman

Jude Kelly, the Southbank Centre’s Artistic Director, explained their decision to enlist Coleman:

"We are delighted that the man who took the world in an entirely unexpected direction in 1959, and who continues to inspire, innovate and surprise fifty years on, has accepted our invitation to create a festival."

The full line-up for the event is still to be announced but it’s confirmed that Coleman will perform two very special concerts. One is inspired by his 1959 releaseThe Shape of Jazz to Comeand the other by his 1961 releaseThis Is Our Music. Both concerts will take place in the Royal Festival Hall.Previous Meltdown curators include Massive Attack and Jarvis and acts including David Bowie, Morrissey and Patti Smith have all performed at the event.Elizabeth Alker

Astoria’s Silent Goodbye

Fans gather to campaign for replacement venue

28 March 2009 - A small group of campaigners took part in a silent disco outside the Astoria in central London in a bid to get more information about the venue’s replacement.

The Astoria shut its doors for the last time in January after a £16 billion Crossrail development finally got the green light.

The deal included guarantees that a venue of similar size would be built in central London to make up for the loss of one of the capital’s best loved music venues.

Facebook groups and a petition have been set up to pressure Westminster Council and Crossrail into announcing who will be responsible for the new build.

Despite their attempts to find out more information, protest organiser India Walker told 6 Music they’re being kept in the dark:

“We’re going to keep writing to Boris Johnson and Crossrail and Westminster Council until we find out who is responsible because they each are saying each other.

“We’re going to bug them until we get a similar venue built.”

Organisers were probably hoping for a larger turnout for the Astoria’s final send off, but perhaps the hail, rain and higher profile G20 protests in Hyde Park took some potential silent disco-ers away.

One protestor told 6 Music why she was there, “I came down, just to remind myself of what good times I had within this building. It’s a shame that it’s going in its entirety, I was hoping they would keep some of the front.”

Another added, “I think we haven’t got sufficient information about what’s going on.”

A police riot van and some security fencing were on stand by, however, the protest was peaceful with campaigners handing out flyers and dancing to the sounds coming from their MP3 players.

Rather fittingly, it was a silent goodbye to a now silent venue.

Will Drysdale

Dolly Parton exclusive

Country queen discusses 9 to 5: The Musical, film plans and considers Glastonbury

27 March 2009 - A musical, scored by Dolly Parton, of the iconic film 9 to 5 is opening on Broadway next month.The country star played the role of Doralee Rhodes in the comedy film in 1980.

Staged by Tony Award-winning director Joe Mantello, the theatre version is currently rehearsing; previews begin on 7 April with the opening night taking place in New York on 30 April.9 to 5: The Musicalreceived rave reviews when it was staged at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, it includes the Oscar nominated title track as well as 18 original numbers written by Parton.The multiple Grammy-award winning songwriter's career dates back to 1959 with a back catalogue including hits Jolene, I Will Always Love You and Islands In The Stream.In an interview with BBC 6 Music, the 63 year-old star discusses the stage production, reveals her plans for a film and Broadway show of her life and says she would consider performing at Glastonbury.

This is the first time you've done a musical on Broadway. Are you nervous about the whole thing?

DP: I think I'm more excited really, it borders on being nervous but I've never done this before so I've just got those butterflies in my stomach, mostly hoping that it does good. Never doing this before you just don't know what to expect but I got in there and gritted my teeth, rolled up my sleeves and did the best I could. Everybody seems to think it's good. I was very honoured when I won the Drama Critics award in Los Angeles for the music because I thought that was a good indication for Broadway.

Was it quite a challenge for you writing music for a musical rather than the album format?

DP: It was a little different. There was a little bit more freedom in it. You can just write until you've said what you think the character needed to say. I got a chance to write for different personalities, for the men, the Mr Hart character. I got a big kick out of doing that and performing his part in my manly voice and writing what I think a man would think. I had my Father, all my uncles and I have six brothers and all these nephews and a husband as well so I really know how men think. It was fun and of course I know what women think, so that was the easy part.

Will we get to see the musical in the UK. Are there plans to tour it?

DP: Yes I think there will. If we stay on Broadway, if it is a hit then I'm sure at some point it will be travelling and certainly I would think it would go to London. I haven't heard that for sure but I just always thought it would.

Were you involved in picking the person that played your role?

DP: I've been involved in every bit of it from the beginning, in the producer's role as well with the production team. I've been there through all the casting. The girl that we wound up with to play Doralee Rhodes, her name is Megan Hilty and she is just the cutest thing. She's a lot prettier than I have ever been or ever will be but she's got the essence of me. She's a little short person, like me, with all the big hair and she's studied my accents and she's a great singer.

"We'll certainly maybe one of these times get a chance to do it."Dolly Parton on Glastonbury

In fact I'm thinking about doing a story of my life in movies real soon and I'm gonna make sure that they audition her for the part for the movie as well, because she wound up being so cute.  When she comes on everybody thinks they're watching me.Is the movie something you would like to do soon?DP: It's one of my next projects so hopefully within a year and half or so we may have a movie out of my life. I'd also love to take my life story to Broadway as a musical and I have been writing lots of songs on that. I want to do a lot of children's projects, children's albums children's books so that's another of my big projects to further.Looking back at the film, it must be nice seeing how attitudes have changed to women in the work place?DP: We really have come a long way. It brought a lot of attention to that and a lot of changes have been made because of that little movie, but Jane Fonda is the one that should get the real credit for that because she is the one that came up with the original idea and got people to write it.  She's the one that chose Lily [Tomlin] and me so she's really the momma of that whole thing.You have become a producer, a writer and you own your own companies across the world.How do you feel about being held up as an icon of successful womanhood?DP: I've always been so busy doing my work that I don't think about what I've accomplished I just think about what I'm gonna accomplish next. I'm very proud and very humbled by everything good that's happened to me. I've worked my butt off there's no doubt, and I'll continue to do that, but it's a nice compliment when people talk nice about you.Next year is the 40th anniversary of Glastonbury. Would you consider doing it?DP: Well I would certainly consider it. We've got a lot of things going on. I couldn't promise that I'd do it but we'll certainly maybe one of these times get a chance to do it.Georgie Rogers

Kasabian album freebie

Band giving away a turbo-charged track from their Empire follow-up

26 March 2009 - Vlad The Impaler from Kasabian’s third record,The West Rider Pauper Lunatic Asylum, will become available on 31 March.

The album is not out until 8 June but fans will be able to download one of the tracks off it for free from their official website for a period of four days, until midnight on 13 April.

The song was written by guitarist and vocalist Serge Pizzorno with assistance on production from Dan The Automator, famed for his work with Gorillaz and DJ Shadow.

“Vlad is a total chaos tune,” explained Serge. “It’s a call out to all our people, the ones who are tuned into our radio station.”

The track’s music video features Noel Fielding and was filmed on a potato farm outside Doncaster.

The Mighty Boosh star plays a character who causes havoc at every turn in the video, which was directed by Richard Ayoade. His credits include Arctic Monkeys and Vampire Weekend.

The first single from the latest batch will be Fire, out on 1 June.The band are performing at the Royal Albert Hall tomorrow (26 March) as part of the Teenage Cancer Trust gigs and you'll be able to hear from them on the Music Week here on 6 Music at 1pm GMT on Sunday 29 March.

PRS launch website

Marillion, Jools Holland and Pete Waterman back new initiative

25 March 2009 - A new website designed to act as a body for songwriters to protect their music on the web was launched today.

The Performing Rights Society has set up Fairplayforcreators.com to highlight the "issues of online earnings."

This follows the row between YouTube and PRS over royalty rates, which resulted in the removal of thousands of music videos from the site.Artists, songwriters, broadcasters and record producer Pete Waterman have all posted messages on the site.

The intention of the site is to encourage internet giant Google to re-instate the premium music videos on YouTube.

Adrian Crooks, a spokesman for PRS told BBC 6 Music: "The website is also saying, along with music fans, 'Lets get the music back up on YouTube so that everyone can enjoy it, but lets make sure the people who have created the music are properly rewarded for providing the business benefit'.

"It's to demonstrate a strength of feeling amongst creators, to demonstrate also that very often PRS for music is seen as an organisation that stops access to the music and that's not what it does. That's not what it's there for."Artists backingMusic industry members from radio, television presenter Paul Gambaccini, Jools Holland and even the writers of the Eastenders and Peep Show theme-tunes are all behind the initiative.Music industry mogul Pete Waterman has joined the debate and stated: "YouTube is not alone in the online hall of shame where the worthy notion of greater consumer choice is used as a cloak to disguise the fact that copyright infringement happens on a grand scale."Keyboardist, Mark Kelly, for the British rock group Marillion who have been active since 1972 said YouTube is, "a great resource", but admitted he has seen little monetary benefit from his material being on the site."There have been maybe 10 million views of Marillion's material on YouTube and in my last PRS statement I received 0.6 pence from them," he explained."If we get 0.6 pence for 10 million views, we'd need billions of views to see any real money."

Marillion keyboardist

"There's a bit of a gap I think between what they should be paying and what they actually are paying, certainly in our case.

"I'm not sure what that works out at but if we get 0.6 pence for 10 million views, we'd need billions of views to see any real money."

In his post on the Fairplayforcreators.com site, Waterman claimed his PRS income for the year to September 2008 came to a total of £11, for more than 100 million plays on YouTube of Never Gonna Give You Up, which he co-wrote with Rick Astley.

YouTube respond

PRS revealed discussions are continuing with YouTube to put in place a new license.

Google has reacted to the initiative by issuing a statement: "We absolutely believe that artists and songwriters should make money from the use of their material. We previously had a license with the PRS to enable this to happen and we're very committed to reaching terms so that we can renew our license."

It continued: "YouTube cannot be expected to engage in a business in which it loses money every time a music video is played - that is simply not a sustainable business model."Georgie Rogers

Kraftwerk for MIF

Antony and the Johnsons, Elbow and Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson too

19 March 2009 - Much of it is risky; all of it is new and 30% totally free. The second Manchester International Festival has drawn and fused artists together from all over the globe with truly weird and wonderful collaborations.

Alex Poots, festival director, believes that the draw is partly due to the affection Manchester is held in: "We’re the first commissioning festival and the city allows artists to experiment away from the pressures that you get in capital cities. All the artists are put in one hotel so we’re expecting many more interesting collaborations to come off the back."

Despite set backs and financial woes, Alex and the organisers have pulled an intriguing and beguiling programme out of the bag. The festival opens with Kraftwerk and American composer Steve Reich at the Velodrome.

Documentary maker Adam Curtis and Punchdrunk’s Felix Barrett are collaborating on a 'haunted house' experience exploring America’s intoxication of the world, with a score written by Damon Albarn.

Rufus Wainwright is facing the challenge of a lifetime, creating the French opera ‘Prima Donna’."It’s a love letter to the city"- Guy Garvey, Elbow

Visual artist Marina Abramovi is asking audiences for a whole 4 hour commitment to see her work of 15 live artists, as an exploration of time poverty, while Gustav Metzger will be uprooting 21 trees to highlight the brutality in which we treat the earth.

Along with the international names the festival has invited work and contributions from local people communities, not so much northern social realism more like northern social surrealism.

Manchester’s favourite son, Guy Garvey gets to fulfill his lifetime ambition of working with the Halle orchestra, with Salford composer, Joe Dardell, helping to orchestrate Elbow’s work: "It’s a love letter to the city, thousands of international students and communities choose to come here, they choose Manchester and they fill the city with new life".

Manchester International Festival 2-19 July 2009

Victoria Baker

Metallica play SXSW

Music veterans pose as newcomers to crowd of just 2,000 in Austin

21 March 2009 - Metallica played an intimate show at South By South West last night. The gig came after rumours and speculation that they would play at the Guitar Hero Metallica party.

The Los Angeles outfit took to the stage at the festival in Austin, Texas, playing a mix of classic tracks and songs from their most recent album Death Magnetic.

The four-piece attempted to pose as newcomers at the gig, playing to a crowd of just 2,000. Frontman James Hetfield told the audience "We're a young band from Norway and we want to get signed" before launching into their 12 song set.

Die hard Metallica lined up outside the venue, Stubbs, for a chance to see their favourite band up close.

The heavy metal outfit played for an hour, watched by members of Janes' Addiction and the Duke Spirit.

Elsewhere at the festival, Graham Coxon was showcasing tunes from his next solo album, the concept record The Spinning Top. He told 6 Music the festival feels like boot camp: “I’ve got a show every day. I’ve never played these songs so this is like jumping into a fire and seeing what happens."We're a young band from Norway and we want to get signed"James Hetfield

“It was alright for a couple of days, because it was all so surreal with the jetlag and it being so hot it didn’t really matter…but now I’m fully aware.”

Coxon explained why he chose to debut his new material in Austin, rather than in the UK. “No one really knows the songs so if I screw them up they don’t know. I think American audiences are very appreciative, they’re very enthusiastic and will allow me quite a few mistakes.

“I can actually get to grips with feeling a bit more confident away from home with the songs.”

Scottish outfit Dananananakroyd are also in Austin. At the start of the third day of the festival, John from the Glaswegian outfit told us the band were on a pretty hectic schedule. “We’re playing the Scottish showcase with Primal Scream, Glasvegas and the Proclaimers.

“We’re doing a radio session, some press stuff, and then we have Sunday off to recover. Then we come back on Monday and go on tour two days later.”

You can hear more from SXSW 2009 by tuning into theMusic Week on Sunday at 1pm GMT.

Victoria Hannaford

No Roses reunion

Ian Brown, John Squire and Stone Roses biographer quash reformation rumours

18 March 2009 - Ian Brown's label, John Squire and a Stone Roses biographer all say rumours of a 21-date reunion tour are untrue.

According to an article in the Daily Mirror, the band were to reform to coincide with the 20th Anniversary of their seminal debut.But frontman Ian Brown is focusing on his solo career, while John Squire is concentrating on his art exhibitions.

"I guess the 20th anniversary of the album has got folk speculating," said a spokeswoman for the former guitarist.

The statement added: "John Squire has just completed another exhibition in London and has plans to take it to Japan in July. Right now this is his priority."

A spokeswoman at Brown's label Fiction/Polydor said: "We know nothing about this. Ian is working on his new studio album which is due out later this year.""We know nothing about this. Ian is working on his new studio album which is due out later this year."

Ian Brown spokeswoman

The Stone Roses split up in 1996. A re-mastered version of their debut album, The Stone Roses, is being released this summer.

John Robb, author of The Stone Roses And The Resurrection Of British Pop, told BBC 6 Music: "As far as I know the Roses aren't getting back together again."

Talking about his latest contact with the band, Robb said: "The way they were talking, the situation hadn't changed to what it was two or three years ago."

He added that Primal Scream bassist Mani - real name Gary Mounfield - wasn't opposed to a reunion."I spoke to Mani three days ago," said Robb. "He's saying he'd love to get the Roses back together again... so either it's an elaborate triple bluff or it's just wishful thinking."

Crisis hidden gigs

Hot Chip, Filthy Dukes, The Bluetones, Dodgy join forces for charity

18 March 2009 - A host of bands are set to perform nine hidden shows across London in May and June, in support of the homeless charity Crisis.

Indie-electro dance outfit Hot Chip - who are doing a limited amount of shows while they are in the studio working on their follow-up toMade In The Dark- and guests will kick off proceedings on 5 May.

The series will also see Dodgy and The Bluetones perform somewhere secret on Sunday 17 May.

Other acts confirmed include Filthy Dukes, Bombay Bicycle Club, Cuban Brothers, The Bays and The Pipettes, with more artists to be confirmed at a later date.

In keeping with the ‘hidden’ theme, the venues will be disclosed on the day of the gig, via text message, and Chief Fundraiser Andy Page explained why: “The purpose really is to help us promote the issues of those that are the hidden homeless in London, not those that you see on the street, but the thousands of people who actually move from day to day or live on friends floors, those that you don’t see.”"Some of them will actually be curating those evenings themselves and bringing other bands along with them."

Andy Page

All proceeds will go towards Crisis and Page told 6 Music it all came about after a hugely successful show last year with Paul Weller at the Roundhouse in Camden.

“From that, the music industry has connected itself with Crisis and once news got out that this was something that we were planning to do, we found that different labels and other agents were very keen to bring the bands in that we were looking for.He went on to say fans can look forward to some surprises: “The bands themselves have really offered their time and involvement and have come up with ideas. Some of them will actually be curating those evenings themselves and bringing other bands along with them.”

Crisis consequences

It’s not the first time the charity has teamed up with musicians to raise cash and awareness.

Last year approximately a quarter of a million pounds was raised with the Crisis Consequences single, which featured contributions from the likes of Gossip’s Beth Ditto, Paul Weller, Supergrass, Graham Coxon and New Young Pony Club.

Paul Epworth, who’s produced the likes of Jack Penate, Bloc Party and Maximo Park was the musical brains behind the project.

He told us about the process of making the track: “It was a really enjoyable thing to do, quite stressful but what we set out to achieve was to create something that was a little bit grand and that was definable by its scale. I think we succeeded.

“I think actually we wrote quite a good piece of music considering it was a bit like cutting and pasting different peoples ideas and trying to work with them on the fly.”

As for future release plans Andy Page revealed they are planning to take live recordings of the series, in order to put together a CD or look at putting out various downloads.

Tickets go on sale at 11am GMT on Wednesday 18 March and are available from.

Relaxed Maximo Park

Frontman Paul Smith on a more democratic kind of recording session

17 March 2009 - After a two year break Newcastle quintet Maximo Park are preparing a return into the music world with their new albumQuicken The Heart.

It's set to be released on 11 May and will be followed by a sold out UK tour kicking off on May 13 in their hometown.

As for the album itself, vocalist Paul Smith thinks it's a different record to their second offeringOur Earthly Pleasuresin 2007.

“It was a very fresh experience for us and I think people can hear that in the music,” he told 6 Music. “The last two times it’s also been quite a fun experience, a bit more tense I would say than the new record. It seems a bit more relaxed on our part. We’re a bit more relaxed as people.”‘A compromise’It was an enjoyable process, according to the Smith, who said the group's democratic approach worked well: “From a guy who lives in Newcastle’s perspective going to London’s just like a holiday really."It seems a bit more relaxed on our part. We’re a bit more relaxed as people."

Paul Smith

“Somebody’s giving you money to make a record and that’s all you ever wanted to do so making a record is a very pleasurable time.

“Obviously there’s a lot of frustration that goes into making a record and especially working in a band with five people, nobody’s the leader, we’re all trying to be as democratic as possible.” 

Yeah Yeah Yeahs producer Nick Launay took up production duties on the Geordie band's third offering.

“If one person took the lead,” Smith continued.  “We’d all be a bit disappointed and we wouldn’t really feel like we were getting anywhere artistically. I think you’ve got to express yourself and being in a group is a compromise. At the end of the process the 12 songs have a chunk of each of us in all of the songs.”

‘Kid with a new toy’

The band are also looking forward to getting back onto the gig circuit, Smith said, after tickets for their UK tour were snapped up so quickly.

“It was really nice that it sold out,” the singer continued, “It kind of shows that people who like our band aren’t fly by nights and neither is the band so from that point of view we were all extremely excited.

“When you’ve got a bunch of new songs it’s like a kid with a new toy, you just wanna play them, you just want to get them out there, and show off a little bit.”The band have also announced a warm up date for the full tour on 7 April at the MandelaHall in Belfast and they’ve also been confirmed for Scotland’s T In The Park festival this summer.The first track from the album, Wraithlike, is available for free download from theirofficial website.

Feargal Sharkey labels Google's actions 'cynical' and 'manipulative'

13 March 2009 - Head of UK Music has expressed his views on the YouTube – Performing Rights Society dispute and believes Google’s actions are damaging to the music industry.

Feargal Sharkey claims YouTube manipulated the situation by briefing the media with the announcement that it was blocking official music and promotional videos, the day before they were due to discuss their new license with PRS, which expired in December 2008.

“I think it's a fairly blatant, cynical, manipulative attempt by Google,” Sharkey told BBC Entertainment. “For me this is a large company thinking they're in a position to bully around a little society that represents 60,000 songwriters.”

The row kicked off because PRS want to raise the royalty rates they charge YouTube every time users click on a video."It's a necessary step because the amounts that we are being asked to pay are many, many times higher."

Google spokesman

Frustrated with the way the matter was dealt with, Sharkey said: “The normal, grown-up thing would be to sit in a room and discuss that and not throw some sort of e-tantrum.”

The music industry mogul added he’d hoped Google would alter its position: “Quite clearly they're still in the mood to bully our songwriters, our musicians, and that's not acceptable.

“For most artists in this country 95% of the songwriters and composers who are members of the PRS earn less than £5,000 in royalties. So every small increase is a quite considerable thing in their lives.

“A small increase or decrease has a fairly major impact on the vast majority of songwriters and composers in this country.”

‘We’re talking’

Google has since responded to Sharkey’s comments and said it had no alternative but to pull the videos.Patrick Walker, the Director of Video Partnerships for YouTube in Europe, told 6 Music: “Nobody wins when the music is blocked, but it’s a necessary step because the amounts that we are being asked to pay are many, many times higher than we’ve paid in the past and that even takes into account the growth of YouTube.”As for scheduled negotiations he continued: “We’re talking, there have been several emails exchanged today.“Face to face meetings are planned for next week and we do look positively towards some developments and we hope, as they do, for a solution. It takes two to tango.”Highlighting their commitment to artists, the Google spokesman added: “There’s no question as to our dedication to the industry, the protection of copyright and to the compensation of artists.“The reason we did this is not about whether or not we should pay artists for their work - that’s something we 100% believe in.“It’s a question of; ‘Can we work together with the PRS on rates that create a sustainable business to grow the pie over time in a win, win environment?’”

Aphex Twin album

Warp Records reveals Electronic pioneer's new record is on the way

13 March 2009 - Experimental wizard Aphex Twin is notoriously reclusive when it comes to his music but 6 Music can reveal his new album's in the works.

Steve Beckett, founder of Aphex’s parent label Warp Records, exclusively said: “We’re definitely going to be putting out a new album by him. Hopefully it will be this year, if I can prize it out of his hands. It’s definitely on its way.”

Recently Warp has brought us music by the likes of Jamie Lidell, Squarepusher as well as bands like !!!, Grizzly Bear and Maximo Park.

It is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year with several big gigs in London, New York Tokyo and Paris and have already revealed that Richard James, better known as Aphex Twin, will be playing a show in the French Capital on 9 May.

His last release was in April 2006, titledChosen Lords, a compilation of theAnalordmaterial."Hopefully it will be this year, if I can prize it out of his hands. It's definitely on its way."

Warp Records founder

Speaking about working with the influential artist, Beckett said: “He’s got his own unique view on life and obviously he’s just a genius musician and artist and it’s brilliant to work with him. He’s a genuine, English eccentric.”

However, the new material will be kept firmly under wraps until late in the recording process, continued Beckett.

“I don’t know a single note or anything about it,” he explained. “It will be as much of a surprise to me as anyone else.

“Basically I find out what it sounds like when we go into the mastering room and he puts it - well how it used to be, he'll put the DAT player in and there it’ll be - so that’s the first time I’ll hear it.

“Then I’ll go onto my knees and thank him and then we’ll put it out.”

Speaking about the forthcoming shows, Beckett said he is thrilled with the final Paris line-up: “The big coup there is getting Aphex Twin to play so that was the one that we were really excited to pin down.”